Unwilling Adventurer
by kesdax
Summary: Root and Shaw get lost in the woods during a mission.


**A/N: **Written for Shoot week on Tumblr. Prompt: lost in the woods sharing a sleeping bag.

* * *

"Just admit it."

"Admit what?" asked Root, glancing at Shaw over her shoulder.

"That we're lost."

"We are not lost," said Root.

"Yes we are," Shaw countered. "We've been going around in circles for the last hour."

"No, we haven't," said Root, but even so, she glanced at the surrounding woods uncertainly.

"Yes," said Shaw more forcefully, stopping by a large beech tree, "we have." She gestured to the tree trunk.

"What's that?" Root asked, peering at it. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it looked like there was some sort of indentation on the bark.

"Marked it with my knife on our last go around," said Shaw smugly.

Root rolled her eyes and continued walking, but her footsteps were more hesitant. Okay, so maybe that fallen tree trunk looked a little familiar.

Root paused. "Okay, fine. We're lost. What are you doing?" she added when Shaw stopped and dumped her backpack on the ground.

"What does it look like?" said Shaw in annoyance. "It's dark. I'm cold and I'm hungry and I'm not going any further." And with that she sat on the ground with her arms folded in a huff.

"If I knew you were going to whine this much," said Root flatly, "I would have brought the Big Lug."

"Yeah," said Shaw haughtily, "but you'd _still_ be lost."

Root chose to ignore that comment.

"Is your sense of direction always this bad?" Shaw asked snidely. "Or is it just because the Machine can't see you?"

Root glared at her for that and sat on the ground as far away from the other woman as possible. "I don't see you faring any better," she muttered.

"I'm not the one with the details of the mission," Shaw stated.

Root rolled her eyes. Shaw had been complaining about being kept in the dark before they had even left the library. But the truth was, Root didn't know any more details yet other than that they had to reach the cabin in the woods that they had, thus far, been so unsuccessful at locating.

Root watched silently as Shaw began to collect wood to start a fire. She didn't offer to help and doubted Shaw would have accepted an offer anyway even if she had. Shaw had just managed to get the thing going when the heavens decided to open up and cold, unrelenting rain started to lash down on them.

Shaw gritted her teeth, muttering curses under her breath as her fire went out.

Root laughed and was rewarded with a withering glare.

"Just help me with the damn tent," Shaw snapped. Root complied, not because of the other woman's tone but because she was already soaked through and starting to shiver. It didn't take them long to get the tent up - for the first time all night their arguing ceasing as they worked towards a mutual goal even if every word out of their mouths was said abrasively through tightened lips.

Both of them clambered into the tent, shivering uncontrollably and sat listening as the rain pounded off the roof. Luckily they had both brought a spare set of clothes and they turned away from each other, quickly getting changed. Although Root did chance a sneaky glance over her shoulder when she was sure Shaw wasn't looking, catching a glimpse of smooth skin, riddled with scars that Root was sure each had their own individual story.

"Get the sleeping bags out," said Shaw through chattering teeth.

"Bags?" said Root.

Shaw clenched her jaw tightly. "Please tell me you brought two."

"Sorry," said Root, although she was pretty sure she didn't sound apologetic at all. "Just the one. But we can share."

"Not a chance in hell," said Shaw.

"Come on," said Root cheerily, "it's freezing. We can share body heat."

Shaw scowled but eventually gave in when it looked like she wasn't going to stop shivering any time soon. "Fine," she said tightly and moved reluctantly towards Root and got into the sleeping bag beside her.

"Is that your gun or are you just happy to see me?" Root said playfully.

"Don't even start," said Shaw grumpily as she settled onto her side. "And don't even think about trying to spoon me."

Root smirked and turned onto her side, facing in the opposite direction to the other woman. She fell asleep quickly now that she no longer felt that she was freezing to death, but she woke up suddenly some time later to a sharp jab in the ribs and "Root, are you awake?" hissed in her ear.

"Well I am now," Root muttered in annoyance. The rain had stopped but it was still dark out.

"Do you hear that?" Shaw asked.

"No," Root mumbled, only half listening to what Shaw was saying. Shaw prodded her in the side again. "Ouch. Would you _stop_ doing that."

"Shh," Shaw snapped. "Listen."

Root rolled her eyes but listened carefully. She heard nothing for a moment but then there was low keening sound. "It's probably just the wind," Root said absently, closing her eyes again.

"That is _not _the wind," said Shaw.

"Well maybe it's a bear," Root suggested lightly.

Beside her, Shaw froze. "A bear?" Then she was scrambling out of the sleeping bag, jostling Root in the process before stepping out of the tent with her gun in her hand.

"Oh, for God's sake," Root muttered, pulling her boots on and following Shaw out of the tent.

She found Shaw at the edge of the clearing, her eyes scanning the woods.

"You know I was kidding about the bear, right?" she said, coming up beside Shaw. But Shaw held a hand up to shut her up and that was when they both heard the sound of a twig snapping from their left.

Root made a mental note not to joke about bears eating them in future as Shaw stepped forward slightly with her gun raised. She took aim carefully, Root wondering how she could even see in the pitch blackness, and fired off one round. Something dropped to the ground, and Shaw kept her gun trained on it as she stepped towards it with her flashlight out.

Root followed her, her eyes widening when she saw what Shaw had hit. "That is _not_ a bear," she said, staring at the dead baby deer. Well at least she liked venison, she thought, _if_ they could get the fire started again.

Shaw lowered her gun and glanced at Root sheepishly. "Let's not tell Reese and Finch I shot Bambi."


End file.
